If you haven't already seen my posts on Instagram and Facebook, I am heading to Korea in a couple of days! I am, of course, packing makeup to take with me, and this post will share some of the products I am bringing along with me!

When it comes to travel, I like packing products that I know will work for me, as well as pop a couple of new products in there just because I get a little bit excited whenever I purchase something new. I like products that will last the whole day without touch-ups, and that are easy and quick to apply.


1. ArtDeco Eyeshadow Palette and single eyeshadow pans, RM29 per pan

Something I like is being able to take along with me an eyeshadow palette with all the eyeshadow colours that I want, and not a bit more. ArtDeco, a German cosmetics brand that recently launched in SaSa here in Malaysia, is perfect for that. Their eyeshadows are mid-range and very pigmented and easy to blend, and come in a huge range of colours that you can pick and choose from to insert into your customizable palette. At only RM29 per insert, but with quality comparable to MAC and Inglot eyeshadows, this is an absolute steal!
ArtDeco also does a range of beautiful foundations, each one suited to a different skin type and preference, so if you want good quality at a decent price, this brand is definitely one to look out for the next time you visit SaSa. They also release limited edition empty palettes from time to time, so look out for them when the different seasons come around.

2. Dermalogica Super Rich Repair Limited Edition Set, AUD110

This isn't a makeup item per se, but I am a huge believer that skincare sets the base for beautiful base makeup. This Dermalogica Super Rich Repair set is limited edition, and comes with their AGE Smart Super Rich moisturiser, Skin Resurfacing Cleanser, as well as a bottle of Dermalogica's famous Precleanse.
I know this is going to be perfect for the freezing cold, dry Korean winter, so I am definitely packing this! This moisturiser is very, very rich, and is perfect for drier skins. I've been using it in tiny amounts even here in Malaysia, and haven't experienced any problems with it so far. Remember that even oily skin needs to be hydrated (in fact, skin gets oily from of lack of hydration), so you may not even know that you need this type of moisturiser! Your best bet? Head to a Dermalogica counter for a free face-mapping skin analysis. Your skin will thank you for this.


3. Shu Uemura Holiday Collection 2013: Takashi Murakami 6 Hearts Princess Collection Limited Edition Enchanted Black Parallel Palette, RM250; and Lip & Cheek Fun-tasy, RM78

This heartbreakingly cute collection is a Shu Uemura design collaboration with famous Anime artist Takashi Murakame. The reason I'm bringing these along? The palette features a brand new eyeshadow formulation called the silk smooth eyeshadow, and my goodness they are ravishing! The textures are spongy and so silky smooth, and pigment transfers so easily with hardly any fall down! I am completely in love!
The Lip & Cheek Fun-tasy's? They're so convenient because they are multi-tasking, and so easy to apply. Just dot on, and blend.

4. Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Maiden, AUD22

Illamasqua always releases the most vibrant, unique seasonal collections, and their latest Christmas collection is no different! More to come on this collection soon, but my favourite by far (and a very safe bet, I will admit) is their Intense Lip Gloss in Maiden. This is a beautiful peachy-pink lipgloss with great coverage and lasting ability, without compromising moisturising qualities. Since Korea is freezing right now, this is perfect for adding that little bit of slickness to the lips, and providing a protective barrier so I don't lose any moisture.
For more about the collection, check Illamasqua counters now. They have also released a beautiful clear polish loaded with white flakes, that looks like snowfall on your fingertips. So pretty!

5. Laura Mercier Deluxe Travel Brush Set Holiday 2013, AUD95

Before I say anything, let me comment on the brush case. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?! The amazing holiday collection by Laura Mercier is styled in this exact way - with beautiful faux-croc skin, hard cases - in the classic Laura Mercier brown. This brush set is a great all-round brush set for the more experienced makeup user. It features a blush/powder brush, a couple of dual-ended brushes complete with blender and smudger brushes, a concealer brush, and a dual-ended liner brush.
As if its gorgeous design wasn't enough, the hard brush case is also perfect because it protects your brushes from getting squished in transit. I know it costs about RM200+ here in Malaysia, but I can't be sure of the exact price. Once I check, I will update the post!


6. Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio, AUD24.95

These are my fail-safe eyeliners. I don't like that they are sold in a pack where I am most likely to never use at least one of the three eyeliners, but there is no denying that this is the best eyeliner I have ever used, even compared to high-end, luxe eyeliners. This eyeliner is creamy and smooth (just remember to keep the cap on!), pigmented (I like the black and it is a perfect, beautiful black black), and so easy to smudge. But its one star quality, what separates it from the rest, is that it does. not. budge. This is by far the most smudge-proof eyeliner I have ever used, and that's why it unfailingly goes into all my makeup bags and pouches, no matter where it is that I am travelling.

My followers on Instagram and Facebook haven't seen me on the social media channels much lately, because I've started a brand new daily routine. J has just opened up his very own sports centre called Titan Sports Centre, and is hosting one of the biggest public futsal leagues to hit Selangor yet, so I've been shuttling back and forth between work, filming, and buying stuff to make the place functional....

....and then I fell ill. And I'm not talking the sniffles here. I'm talking too-weak-to-walk-or-eat kind of ill. It was total hell, but a couple of things got me through it. They're a little naughty, but what better time to treat yourself than the Malaysian flu-season, and the upcoming holiday season, right? ;)

Foodpanda.my is the ultimate convenience - delivering food from all kinds of different food establishments straight to your doorstep. This was a heaven-send when I was ill, because I didn't have the energy to lift my head, let alone drive a car to pick up food. I simply downloaded the app (they have one for both Android and Apple), and ordered away. Another thing I friggin' love about this place? They accept Paypal! A lot of Malaysian establishments haven't gotten around to accepting PayPal, but it's all I use when I shop online, so to have a place in Malaysia that accepts PayPal is exceedingly convenient for me! No shuffling around my handbag for my wallet, all I need to do is click a few buttons and my order is ready to go. I've always, always been a huge fan of eBay, so when I was lying in bed with nothing to do, I pulled out my trusty tablet and started shopping. It wasn't just pretty things, mind you! Okay, so this is pretty, but it's also functional! I bought a sonic humidifier (I think that's what it was) that doesn't use heat to create steam. It also has a little slot for me to drop essential oils into, and it changes colour as it creates steam! I loved it because my throat was so dry throughout the time I was sick, so I managed to keep the sore throat at bay by turning this on every night, with a couple of drops of my favourite lavender essential oil. My room smells absolutely amazing now! And, eherm, let's not talk about the rest of the stuff I bought, kay? ;)

YouTube is a fabulous place! It has how-to videos, funny videos, makeup tutorials, hauls and reviews...seriously, everything is on there! No wonder it has such a huge membership base. I spent hours on YouTube searching for simple sore throat remedies, looking for videos on cute puppies, and watching Christmas gift ideas and makeup tutorials! Oh, and shameless plug here (tee hee), my YouTube channel has makeup tutorials on a variety of different looks, and if you would like to request a video, just leave a comment here or on my Facebook page, or on my channel! www.youtube.com/emilyquak So these were my little 'treats' when I wasn't feeling well, things I wanted to do just to make myself feel better, and to while the time away whilst I was in bed with not much else to do. Do you have little 'comfort' things that you turn to whenever you're feeling down or under the weather? Do you turn to online shopping like I do? ;)

With the recent hikes in petrol cost lately, safe to say it's been pretty taxing on us Malaysians. We've resorted to things like switching the gears into neutral everytime we come to the slightest, shortest stop, switching to smaller cars, getting our friends to pick us up as much as possible, trying to get out of picking up our friends as much as possible, and even driving more slowly to get the most use of our petrol. As a beauty blogger and entrepreneur, I am constantly on the move. I send out parcels to the post office, I attend beauty events that are almost exclusively held in KL (mind you, I live about 30 minutes away from KL, and that's on a good day without any traffic, which is never), and I am always, always haunted by that damned petrol needle that insists on working its way down, down, down to zero at an alarmingly fast rate.

Well what if I told you that you don't have to worry about traffic jams, because your car has an eco-mode that helps you switch to battery mode as often as possible, only using battery-power and reducing fuel consumption and carbon emission? More importantly, what if I told you that you would be able to preserve our environment, for our children, and our children's children? Malaysia is huge on personal cars, which means everyone owns their own vehicle, and we contribute enormously to carbon emissions and therefore pollution of our air.


Enter the Honda Hybrid Jazz, a car manufactured in Malaysia (so you don't get all that nasty tax cost) with two motors - one electric, one fuel-powered. I had the opportunity to try this Honda Hybrid Jazz out and take it out for a couple of days, to see how my fuel consumption fared in a hybrid car, compared to my regular fuel-engine car.

My first night with the car, I travelled everywhere - from PJ to Klang, up to Sunway, and then back down to Klang again. The next morning, it was up to PJ for a snapshot of nature - Honda really wanted us to do this and I think it really made me think about our environment, and how owning a hybrid would not only save us money in the long run, but also contribute towards the preservation of our ecosystem. I stumbled upon this review of a park in PJ called the Secret Garden, and headed over there to take a few pictures. It's always been an aim of mine to find pretty places to photograph my looks, and sadly, Malaysia has so few of these places compared to Australia.


I then headed up to Kota Damansara for a meeting (where I kept the car running for two whole hours while waiting for the meeting to end), and then down to Subang Airport to pick up my trial partner - Kelly. We got lost on the way to the airport, too, and ended up circling around in the Subang New Village industrial area for like a half hour before we finally got our bearings. All through that, the petrol needle only dropped a tiny bit (and I attribute that to my boyfriend's lousy, non-fuel efficient driving i.e. speeding).




After picking Kelly up, off we went to the Great Honda Hybrid Discovery roadshow, where we learned more about hybrid cars (and got to watch a couple of very entertaining games going in on-stage). What interested me in particular was the big tent they had set up, thankfully, with air-conditioning, that taught us about hybrid cars. We were taught about how the two motors worked together, with a comical demonstrative/interactive display that had me and Kelly on a two-seater bike peddling like our lives depended on it -


So how does it work, you ask? Basically, when you're driving at low, cruise speeds (that means no acceleration), only the battery works to power your car, which means no fuel consumption, no carbon emission, and a big fat plus for the environment! When you accelerate, both engines work together, so you reduce your fuel consumption. But when you cruise at a high speed (which is what my boyfriend was doing when he drove the car in the morning on our second day), only the fuel-powered engine works, which means no more hybrid technology at work.
If this worries you, fear not. This car comes equipped with a 'Scoring Function', which tells you how fuel-efficient your driving really is. Now this function has got to be one of my favourites. I find it super useful that this car tells me how exactly I should be driving, what's infinitely more important, though, is that I can prove that my boyfriend doesn't drive to maximise fuel. HAH, take that, J!!


Another thing I love about this technology? Honda have ingeniously added a way to recharge the battery in the car - by utilising the energy that is produced when the car brakes. So everytime you brake, you recharge the battery in your car a little. I seriously cannot get over how amazing this function is. GENIUS.

Imagine all this bundled up into one car. A lot of people are still hesitant about hybrids, but they are honestly the best way to go to reduce the insane amount of pollution that is happening. In Malaysia, people sit in their cars for hours on end, depleting our ozone layer, contributing to global warming. If you are one of the thousands who sits in their vehicle during rush hour, braving the traffic, consider what you are doing to the environment. I understand that going home later, after rush hour, takes away from your time. So does leaving for work earlier. If you aren't willing to do that, maybe look into a hybrid that runs on battery power when your car isn't moving, therefore reducing your overall carbon emission?

Honda has such faith in their hybrid technology that they are letting customers take a Honda Hybrid car home for 3 days and 2 nights. All you have to do is sign up here.

If you're thinking of hitting up one of their many roadshows, check out their Facebook page for updates. I know one is currently going on in Sunway Pyramid, and my dad has visited about 3 times already :)

This is outside my normal scope of blogging, but I thought you photo fans would like to learn a little bit about the amazing Samsung Galaxy S4 and its even more amazing cameras. I was recently invited to a Samsung event where I was given the opportunity to take home a Samsung S4 to play around with for a couple of weeks!


This phone is jam-packed with features and if I regurgitated them all for you, it would make this a boring brochure, so this blogpost is just a highlight of some of my favourite features on this phone. The rest, you can get from a Samsung salesperson :)

The Display
What struck me immediately upon turning the phone on was the vibrant display - I love strong, vivid colours in both my makeup and my pictures, so it was great to see a huge display coupled with strong colours.

The CAMERA
This is my absolute favourite thing about this phone. It takes the most incredibly crisp and colour-strong photos I have ever seen, and I am blown away each time I compare pictures taken on the Samsung S4 with pictures taken on any other smartphone on the market. The camera is quick, responsive, and captures crisp, sharp images. Here are a couple of sample pictures I took on both the front and back cameras.





Dual-Camera Function
Another function I am loving on this phone is its camera applications. It can do amazing things like create a little gif with only one area of the picture animated, it takes action shots so that you can have multiple copies of your moving subject in just one picture, and it has this awesome dual camera function where both the front and back cameras are activated so that you can take a picture of yourself and whatever is in front of you all at once. I, of course, chose to camwhore with anyone who would camwhore with me ;)




Air-Gestures
Samsung has also included this neat little nugget of technology in the phone where waving your hand in the air above the phone helps you do a multitude of things without having to touch the phone, like answer a call, check the date and time, read a website, and so on.
Why do I love this feature? How many times have you been caught halfway through doing this:


...with an incessantly ringing phone, scrambling for a towel or a piece of cloth to wipe your hands down before answering your phone? And this happens for me all the time, when I am applying my skincare and my hands are greasy, when I am applying nail polish and the polish hasn't dried - I have had to grease up my phone more times than I can count, so this feature is god-sent for me!

Engagement
If you have friends with S4's too, this is an awesome time to play around. Around the time I was trialling this phone, both my cousin and my sister purchased it, so we were a little gang of S4 users marvelling at the phone and its new features. You can play games over Wi-Fi with this, and compete with one another in the same game using your phones. A feature I particularly like in this Group Play application is the music feature - where one user hosts a song, and every other phone can pick up the same song and play it at the exact same time, creating a surround-sound system that is a blast to play with at a party.


Battery Life
This phone has the same battery life as its predecessor, which is pretty impressive in itself (Please note that whilst Samsung does advertise a larger battery with the S4, nothing is said of extended battery power. I believe that the battery power is the same because all the new features in the new S4 does take up a lot of battery life). This phone lasts from early morning till late at night, which is way more than I can say for its competitors. Battery life is essential for me (I use my phone extensively), and I don't like going through the hassle of searching for a power bank - which, by the way, is considered by a lot of people to be detrimental to your battery life in the long term - to lug around in my handbag for when my phone runs out of juice.

A couple of things that I didn't like about this phone, for integrity and disclosure's sake:

Responsiveness and Speed
Compared to the phone I am currently using, this phone was much less responsive to my touch, and I noticed a little lag in its responsiveness after I started loading it up with apps and photos (mind you, I only had this for two weeks so I had a minimal number of apps running - some photo editors and social media apps were all I downloaded).

Bugs
Both my sister and I experienced bugs with our phones, within the first week of our using these phones. On my phone, the phone would hang for the longest time whenever I tried to open the camera app, and though sometimes it would finally launch the app, most times it would just shut down and restart by itself.
My sister on the other hand, experienced the mother of all lags with her phone - it got so bad that she avoided Whatsapp altogether (and she is an avid chatter on Whatsapp - we all are) because the lag was too much for her to handle. We have tried going back to Samsung 3 times already to fix this issue and so far nothing they have tried has worked. When she arrives home from Singapore at the end of the week, we are going to get her phone exchanged.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one phone I would love to own, just for its camera and awesome features. Do you think this might be better than your current phone? Will you make the switch? :)